2 Days in Prince Edward Island with Kids
We could have easily spent a week or more enjoying a relaxing maritime summer, but we didn’t have time on this road trip through New Brunswick, PEI, and Nova Scotia. Here’s what we did in 2 days in Prince Edward Island with our 18 month old and 3.5 year old.
Prince Edward Island
We drove over Canada’s longest bridge, Confederation Bridge, to Prince Edward Island. From the bridge, we could see the island from one end to the other. On the second half of Confederation Bridge, we could see the iron-rich red sand on the shore of PEI.
We stopped at a grocery store in Summerside to stock up on food for the next couple of days. Groceries were a little more expensive than at home in Ontario, but not outrageously expensive.
Wellington
Potato fields lined our route to our little cottage on the southern shore of the island. We can see a lot of the island consists of summer homes and cottages and there are lots available to rent. We ended up booking our cottage fairly late. It happened to be the same weekend as a music festival and space was limited.
The cottages themselves are very rustic with older furnishings, little hot water, and no wifi except outside the owners’ cabin. It is not a luxury resort by any means but we spent almost all of our time outside.
We arrived in the late afternoon and it was the perfect summer day. Daood made dinner and then we ran around the cabin playing tag. Auden walked up and down the stairs to the cottage, practicing his new favourite skill. As the sun was starting to set, we played on the beach. The air was windstill, smelling of the ocean. We had the whole beach to ourselves and hadn’t actually seen anyone else except the owners of the cottages.
Cavendish
The next morning, we were up early so we decided to make the most of it by heading out not long after sunrise to Prince Edward Island National Park. While early mornings are a complaint at home, when you’re travelling, they are a huge advantage. We had the entire beach to ourselves that morning.
The beach was very windy and we were slightly sandblasted after, but it was beautiful and much bigger than I had expected. We walked along a boardwalk behind the giant sand dunes.
Green Gables Heritage Park
Next we visited a historical home at Green Gables Heritage Park that could have easily been the inspiration for the story, Anne of Green Gables. If you love the story like we do, it is worth a visit. It is a National Historic Site of Canada.
Many of the National Parks, Historic Sites and Marine Conservation Areas in Canada have a children’s program called Parks Canada Xplorers. At each site, there are activity booklets and souvenirs.
Part of the activities in the booklet included a scavenger hunt around the Green Gables house. Solen loves treasure hunts and scavenger hunts and was really into the activity. Once we found all of the items, we returned to the kids area and the boys each got a necklace with a tag that said Green Gables Heritage Park.
Actors playing characters from the story wandered the property, talking to guests. We took a picture with a very convincing Anne, who ran around the yard in front of Green Gables with the boys, calling out to them about how she thought they were kindred spirits because of their imaginations.
There were other activities for kids around the property including an interactive retelling of the story. Daood wanted to try everything that the park had to offer. It turned out that our family was the only one there, which meant we had to play all the characters.
Daood is a joiner. I am an observer. Once when we took the boys to a magic show at a small local event, I said, “Let’s choose seats where he’s not going to pick us to volunteer.” But Daood wants to be front and centre or along an aisle where it’s highly likely that he could be forced to participate. What a nightmare.
Anyway, the storyteller glanced at the slim pickings before her and said, “We might as well get started! Who wants to be Anne?” And Daood looked at me with a big smile on his face.
I dutifully repeated my lines and then volunteered Daood to play Anne for the second half of the performance while Solen played Gilbert.
Our last stop in Cavendish was a visit to Cow’s where they sell world famous ice cream and bottles of raspberry cordial.
Summerside
As the boys slept in the car, I dropped Daood off at JMK Fishmart along the Summerside waterfront and he “attempted to navigate the world of lobster.” Here’s his story of his PEI lobster experience.
“There seemed to be a very complicated world and I didn’t know any of the terms. I proceeded to hold up the long line asking a lot of questions of a fisherman who seemed disinterested in public relations or suffering fools. Eventually I ended up getting a small lobster (a “canner”) and a lobster roll.
I ate the lobster roll on the way back to the cottage. It was really good. Back at the cottage I unwrapped the full lobster and offered some to Megan and the boys who each smelled it and politely declined and went to play outside.
Not 100% sure if all parts were supposed to be eaten – if it was soft, I ate it. Most of it was delicious. There were a couple of green parts that were a little bit odd. (After some quick research – it turns out that was the liver, known as the tamalley, which people usually don’t eat.) The main lobster meat – the tail, claws, and legs – were awesome.”
Daood Bacchus
After one more beautiful summer evening in PEI, we headed back over Confederation Bridge and headed toward Nova Scotia. If we had more time I would have stayed longer, but I think our 2 days in Prince Edward Island were well spent.
Want to hear about Halifax, Lunenburg, and Peggy’s Cove? Read on for the final leg of our road trip through Eastern Canada.
